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Comparison of the Wise and Philosophical Ideas in Ferdowsi's Shahnameh and Nasser Khusraw's Book Of Journal of History Culture and Art Research (ISSN: 2147-0626) Tarih Kültür ve Sanat Araştırmaları Dergisi Vol. 6, No. 2, March 2017 Revue des Recherches en Histoire Culture et Art Copyright © Karabuk University http://kutaksam.karabuk.edu.tr ﻣﺠﻠﺔ ﺍﻟﺒﺤﻮﺙ ﺍﻟﺘﺎﺭﻳﺨﻴﺔ ﻭﺍﻟﺜﻘﺎﻓﻴﺔ ﻭﺍﻟﻔﻨﻴﺔ DOI: 10.7596/taksad.v6i2.870 Citation: Zanalimahmodabadi, M., Amirahmadi, A., & Eshghisardehi, A. (2017). Comparison of the Wise and Philosophical Ideas in Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh and Nasser Khusraw’s Book of Poems. Journal of History Culture and Art Research, 6(2), 624-635. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.7596/taksad.v6i2.870 Comparison of the Wise and Philosophical Ideas in Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh and Nasser Khusraw’s Book of Poems Maliheh Zanalimahmodabadi1, Aboalqasm Amirahmadi*2, Ali Eshghisardehi3 Abstract History of Iran has deep links with Shahnameh and Persian literature. In fact, it is not possible to talk about Iran as a rich culture and disregard Persian literature and brilliant works of Persian literature. According to most scholars in the field of literature and culture, Iranians have been people of wisdom, thought, and philosophy. Ferdowsi and Nasser Khusraw hold a special place in this regard because we are faced with ethical, philosophical, and religious ideas in the works of both poets. Different effects of the Iranian Wisdom are presented in their poems; the effects include ethics, philosophy, logic, medicine, music, determinism and free will, fate, arithmetic and geometry, astronomy etc. Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh and Nasser Khusraw’s Book of Poems are sublime manifestation of ideological and philosophical ideas of Iranians. Apart from the similarities and differences, Ferdowsi and Nasser Khusraw’s poems represent praise of wisdom, God, and human freedom as basic elements in the ontology of Persian culture. Hence, in addition to understanding and explanation of Ferdowsi, Nasser Khusraw’s day and age, and the importance of these two poets in Iran's development of wisdom and philosophical thought, this research tries to describe their similarities and differences in ideological and philosophical subjects. Keywords: Philosophy, Poem, Ferdowsi, Nasser Khusraw. 1 Department of Persian Language and Literature, PhD student Department of Persian Language and Literature, Sabzevar Branch, Islamic Azad University, Sabzevar, Iran. 2 Corresponding Author, Department of Persian Language and Literature, Assistant Professor of Persian Literature, Sabzevar Branch, Islamic Azad University, Sabzevar, Iran. E mail : [email protected] 3 Department of Persian Language and Literature, Assistant Professor of Persian Literature, Sabzevar Branch, Islamic Azad University, Sabzevar, Iran. 624 Introduction Persian language took on a sacred aspect gradually from the 5th century onwards, especially with the composition of Ferdowsi's Shahnameh. The reason for this issue can be found in the fact that Iranians have included their spiritual experience within Arabic since the beginning of Islam in Iran and presented it to science and literature lovers. The reason for survival of Iranian proverbs and wise words relies on its deep philosophical and wise concepts. Historians had limited knowledge on Islamic period of philosophical thinking to the age when philosophers and scholars were writing in Arabic. Disregarding great philosophical works such as Nasser Khusraw and others is the mistake by this group. Moreover, consideration of Persian language capabilities is equal to disregarding depth of thought in works of the great Persian figures. Many orientalists have not addressed Muslims’ thoughts because they started to observe Muslims’ intellectual and wise speeches from Arabic perspective. The historical ignorance has led to merely literary attention to many works. According to historical evidence as well as written works, importance of the role of Iranians in the history of thought and civilization of the world is undeniable. Thus, foreign conquerors have never had definitive victory in the land and they have lost their power very soon since they have resolved in the stream of Iranian thought. In addition to present an introduction about Ferdowsi and Nasser Khusraw, this research tries to uncover the ways philosophy, wisdom has been included in poetic form by them, and what instruments used by then to describe their goals in this regard. Moreover, the article compares and contrasts the ideas of the two poets. Abolqasem Ferdowsi It would definitely be said that Ferdowsi is one of the greatest epic poet in the world. Abolqasem Ferdowsi was born in 940 in a village called Bazh, near Tous in Khorasan. He was a farmer in Tous. Farmers were rural aristocrats because they had land and water and they were intermediary between peasants and owners. He married at the age of 28; his wife had mastered music and his son died at the age of 37 when Ferdowsi was 65 years old. Ferdowsi died in the age of 82 and his body was buried in his personal property in Tous (Agha Alikhani, 2009: 6-7). Nezami Oroozi is the first researcher who wrote on the life of Ferdowsi. He stated that Ferdowsi was born in Bazh. Recent references have counted Shadab and Razan as the place of Ferdowsi’s birth; but this idea has been rejected by most contemporary scholars. His name has been mentioned Abolqasem Ferdowsi in all references. His first name is mentioned Hasan in oldest sources such as Strange Creatures, Selected History, and introduction to Shahnameh. 625 Other sources such as Bendari’s Arabic translation, Felorence’s introduction, and Introduction to Shahnameh by Baisonqori have named him Mansour. After investigating all sources, Muhammad Amin Riahi has accepted the name of Hasan ibn Ali for him and argues that this name is more appropriate to his religious thoughts; however, he purifies Ferdowsi for all religious bias the same as other scholars (Doostkhah, 2005: 24). In Shahnameh, when he finishes description of war of eleven warriors, he admires Mahmood Ghaznavi who had become king; he also talks about himself at the age of fifty-eight years old. Since Mahmood went the throne in 387, Ferdowsi was born in 329 (Anwari, 1997: 11-12). Shahnameh Ferdowsi's childhood and youth were spent at the time of the Samanids. Samanid kings were lovers of Persian literature. The start of composing Shahnameh based on Abu Mansour Shahnameh is regarded as when Ferdowsi was at the age of thirty. Attention to Ferdowsi’s mastery in composition depicts that he had composed verses in youth; some verses of Shahnameh based on ancient folklore may be composed when he was a young boy. This idea can justify much heterogeneity in editions of Shahnameh manuscripts. In this regard, same older versions of the manuscripts may be copied by recorders. The Story of Bijan and Manijeh, Rostam and Esfandiar, Ekvan Div, and Story of Siavash may be composed at the Fredowsi’s youg years of life. After hearing about Daqiqi Tousi’s death and knowing that Goshtaseb Nameh was remained unfinished, he understood about composition of Abu Mansouri Shahnameh and traveled to Bokhara to find the book and compose the continuation of the book (Riahi, 1996: 91). In this trip, Fredowsi did not find unfinished Abu Mansouri Shahnameh; in his return to Tous, Amir Mansour who was one of his friends and Abu Mansouri Shahnameh had been edited under the rule of his father, gave a version of the book to Ferdowsi (Doostkhah, 2005: 36). Shahnameh is the most famous composition of Ferdowsi and it is one of the biggest writings in Persian literature. Ferdowsi wrote Shahnameh according to Abu Mansouri Shahnameh in 370 AD; it was finished in 384 Hijri with these lines: The story of Yazdgerd finished now, In the month of Sefandarmaz, After three hundred and eighty-four years, In the name of holy God (Ferdowsi, 1966: 1943). 626 Nasser Khusraw Qubadiani Nasser Khusraw Qubadiani, the great poet of the fifth century AD, is remarkable and recognizable in many ways such as firm belief, combination of poetry and thought in his book, efforts to spread his ideas, social perspectives, mastery in Persian literature, and sad fate (Yusefi et al., 1990: 5). Among Iranian poets, Nasser Khusraw’s story is amazing and unique. Abu Mo’in Hamid ad-Din Nasir ibn Khusraw al-Qubadiani was born in Qabodiyon, a village in eastern Iranian province of Khorasan in 394 AD; he died in Yamagan in 481 AD. He began to learn sciences of his age from childhood; he entered the court of kings in youth and earned much money and assets. At the age of forty-two, he changed totally and began a pilgrimage to the House of God. For this purpose, he left his property and occupations and spent seven years in travel (Qubadiani, 1991: 508). Befor the travel, the life of this passionate thinker was devoted to world and pleasure and he spent his life by serving the court of many Ghaznavian and Seljuk Turkmen kings (ibid: 506). In fact, thinking on introvert and extrovert signs of God as well as observing strangers and wonders of different lands in addition to habits, customs, and religions made him more capable for spiritual transformations. Most importantly, he became familiar with missionaries of Fatemi religion. The influence of their speeches, especially the words of his direct guide Al-Daat Shirazi, as well as his mental fitness directed him to accept their religion. Since he was master in Persian, Arabic, and intellectual and traditional sciences, he was appointed as a missionary in Khorasan by the eighth Fatimid caliph of Egypt; he was titled as “Proof of Khorasan Island”. In his return to Iran, he started a deep fight against caliphs, kings, and governors by his powerful expression and language. Consequently, he blamed jurists, narrators of hadiths, and poets who were in favor of them. He took a refuge in the valley of Yamagan, which had an independent rule, to be safe of the harms by them; finally, he died in Tamagan (Muhaqiq, 2007: 10-11).
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